Mass Effect: I'm Always Coming Back
by N7 Paragon 2077
Summary: Alternate take on Mass Effect 3 from Thessia onward to the end. No catalyst, the Crucible may not be what it seems, there may be more to the Mars Archives / Protheans than we knew before. Commander John Shepard and Liara romance.


**Thessia**

_**Normandy SR-2**_

"Commander, Councilor Tevos is requesting your presence on vid-com," Specialist Traynor reported.

"Thank you, Sam," Commander John Shepard had quickly said, as he rushed by her on his way to the War Room. He was outfitted in his casual N7 leather jacket and jeans… hardly the attire to meet with a Councilor, but it was urgent, that much he knew for sure. He was passing through the security checkpoint now, wondering to himself what could have gotten the Asari Councilor to request his immediate audience. The reapers were busy harvesting all space-faring organic life in the galaxy, true, but even though the asari were the most advanced species, he had not heard that the reapers had arrived at Thessia yet. He supposed he would have to hear it from the Councilor herself, rather than worry himself over what could be nothing.

Shepard passed the checkpoint and rushed through the War Room. He enabled communications with the Councilor, and stood at attention.

"Councilor Tevos?" he asked, holding his breath.

"Commander Shepard! The asari need your immediate assistance on Thessia! The Reapers have arrived in force and are decimating us. Shepard… I cannot stress the importance of this mission. The Asari Republics have been hiding a prothean artifact in what we know as the Temple of Athame. I believe it is of the same nature as the artifacts you encountered on Eden Prime and Virmire. It may hold the key to defeating the Reapers, whatever it may be, it's our only hope Shepard! You'll find a science team there ready to help you. There is no more time for talk, you'll find the landing zone in Armali, not far from the temple itself. We have few remaining forces barely holding off the Reapers."

"Armali…," Liara sounded devastated. "It is where I grew up." She had been standing behind Shepard the entire time, he had been too focused on the conversation, he hadn't noticed.

"Liara… I… I'm so sorry…" he truly was. Liara was an asari and Shepard's bondmate, the love of his life. He could not bear to see her nearly in tears like this, it broke his heart.

"Shepard… Let me come! Please! I need to be there for my people! I have to defend them… I have to save them!" He understood where she was coming from, it had killed him to leave Earth while the Reapers were harvesting humans right before his eyes. But he did what he had to do, for Earth, and for the galaxy. He didn't want her to come, not that he didn't want her by his side, he always did. It was only because he knew the feeling, he knew that just seeing something or someplace you're close to be destroyed while you watch is demoralizing. He didn't want to see her get hurt anymore. He could see it in her perfect, sapphire eyes. She well knew that her civilization, all civilization, was at its breaking point. It could all end tomorrow, and what if it did?

"Okay, Liara, but please promise me that you'll stick close to me. The galaxy needs you… I need you." A brief, but beautiful smile flashed across her flawless features, her soft blue skin wet with a few tears. Shepard moved in to hold her, to console her in her time of vulnerability, to be that shoulder to cry on as it all came crashing down upon you.

They took the elevator to Shepard's cabin and laid on his bed together. Her sweet voice had brought life to the thoughts he had had back in the War Room.

"Shepard, if this doesn't work, if it all ends tomorrow… what happens to us?" She never thought she had to worry until John had died the first time, when the Collectors attacked. He had tried to save his crew, and Joker who had at first refused to leave the Normandy, believing he could save her. Shepard stayed behind and forced Joker into the last escape pod. He went down with the Normandy that day. Liara watched in horror as the Collector ship tore into the hull, blasting the entire ship to pieces in seconds. She watched while her bondmate, her love, suffocated in deep space while falling and burning up in the atmosphere of the nearby world. They had thought Commander Shepard, Hero of the Battle of the Citadel, dead.

They were ready to give up, but not Liara. She could not make herself believe that her love had died. She had to find him, she had to bring him back. She went through hell with the pro-human group, Cerberus, but they did what she could have only dreamt of. They brought him back. After 2 long years of grieving, they rebuilt him. He was the exact person he was before he had died, just with some cybernetics that would enhance his combat prowess and lifespan, among other things. Nothing had changed. After 2 years of being dead, he still loved her, despite what she did. He knew she had given him another chance, because she just couldn't let him go. Now she had to ask, because she could not live with herself if she lost him again.

"The war isn't over yet, Liara. I know you're afraid, but I promise you, I will always come back. I fight for our lives out there. I have everything to come back to… I have you." At that, she smiled and felt reassured. He always knew how to make it all go away, even just for awhile. He gave her a quick peck on the lips and smiled. He meant every word. She reached for his hand and put her head on his chest as they looked out the observation window at the stars. They slept for awhile until arriving at the Parnitha System in the Athena Nebula. Thessia…

Shepard strapped on his N7 armor and grabbed his M11-Wraith shotgun. He also grabbed an N7 Hurricane SMG. He made sure had enough ammo, maybe more, he was always particularly upset whenever Liara was hurt. Although he was going to do his very best to save everybody, he sure was going to kick as much Reaper ass as possible today. He didn't know if the Reapers could feel fear, or if they just fed on it, but he was going to make them wish they had never landed on Thessia.

Liara strapped on her armor and grabbed her own N7 Hurricane, both specially purchased for her by Shepard. Since she was his bondmate, he wanted to use his Spectre status to make the best equipment available to her as well, the better to protect her. Garrus Vakarian also geared up, grabbing his Mantis and an M-8 Avenger assault rifle.

Garrus was a turian, a former C-Sec officer, and Commander Shepard's best friend. He always brought Liara and Garrus on missions, because he felt safest and most comfortable with them. He would do anything to protect them and he knew they would, too.

_**Armali, Thessia**_

They landed on what appeared to be some sort of a highway in Armali. He couldn't be certain, however, because most of it was now rubble. Liara looked stricken, but Shepard moved a reassuring hand to her arm in understanding, and made sure she could handle being here one more time. The asari stationed there had already been under fire by Reaper troops well before they had arrived. Lieutenant Kurin had been holding off as best she could, along with a small group of asari biotics and soldiers.

Shepard, Liara and Garrus dismounted from the Kodiak shuttle and motioned for Cortez to fly away. Shepard sighted Kurin and ran over to her. They hid behind a makeshift barricade and talked while an asari biotic held up a barrier against a ravager, or a "reaper-transformed" rachni.

"I'm Commander Shepard, Council Spectre, I have orders from Councilor Tevos."

"Ah, yes, Commander Shepard, we had heard you were on your way, though your orders were not shared with us. We have been stuck here for hours. We need to retreat!"

"I'm afraid that isn't possible right now, Lieutenant, we have to get to the Temple of Athame, quickly. It could be our only hope of stopping the Reapers!"

"The temple…?" Kurin questioned, "What could there be in there that's worth risking my people?"

"There's a prothean artifact that could have essential data to completing the Crucible, maybe. I wasn't told much, but we didn't have many options anyway. All our hope is in that temple, Kurin."

"By the Goddess… High Command must have been hiding this for centuries…," she turned to her team and motioned, "Ladies, we need to carve a path to the temple immediately! Commander Shepard needs to get there right now! Move! Clear the way to Outpost Tykis!"

The asari squad moved up, flaring biotics and warping the flesh of ravagers, cannibals and husks. Shepard, Liara, and Garrus were the cavalry here. They were the perfect team, unstoppable.

"Garrus! Overload on those marauders, now," Shepard ordered.

"Aye, aye," Garrus called. All 3 marauders instantly had their shields dropped.

"Liara, you know what to do!" Shepard smiled. She knew exactly what to do, they worked together so fluidly, so perfectly. Their bodies and minds were in complete unison. They could feel each other's mind there, without even thinking. It is said that that phenomena only happens when an asari meld is done with their true love.

Liara popped a biotic singularity in the middle of the 3 marauders. It widened to 5 meters and sucked in a few husks and cannibals. Shepard, being a vanguard, flared his biotics and readied himself. He unleashed a biotic charge on the center marauder and caused the singularity to detonate. Anything caught in it was obliterated.

Shepard and his crew pushed on through the war-torn highway, finishing off the ravager with simple gunfire and a biotic warp from Liara, and through a few buildings. Not long after emerging from a rubble filled doorway, they heard two bloodcurdling screams. Another atrocity committed against the asari by the reapers. Banshees.

"_Shit," Shepard thought, "I hope Liara doesn't realize what's going on until it's over."_

The banshees were rushing them. They had little to no time to think.

"Garrus, lay a proximity mine to disrupt their charges! Liara, warp on my go!'

"Shepard!" they called in unison. A third banshee had jumped behind him and was now picking him up by the neck. The blood froze in Liara's veins. She would NOT lose Shepard ever again. Her biotics flared and she held the banshee completely still with a stasis field. Unfortunately, she would not be able to hold it, and this also reinforced the banshee's death-grip on Shepard.

Unnoticed, Garrus had snuck completely behind enemy lines, and before anyone knew what was happening, a hole had been shot clean through the banshees skull, blood spattering on the floor behind it. It dropped, and released its hold on Shepard.

"Just another bullseye," Garrus laughed to himself, to lighten the mood, nearly seeing Shepard killed again.

"Goddess! I thought I'd lost you!" shock shone on Liara's face.

"Not quite, my love, I told you I'd always come back," he smiled but added, "There's still two more of those things, I've got a plan."

Shepard pinged Garrus on his comm.-link. Garrus, shot another round at the second banshee. It missed, but that was the point. The banshee directed its attention towards him and screamed. Liara hit it with a warp while holding the third in another stasis field. With the second banshee's barrier down, Shepard biotically charged it, shattering its ribcage and knocking the wind out of it. He then pumped it full of his M11-Wraith. Liara released stasis and summoned a biotic shockwave, erasing the final banshee from existence.

Shepard and crew emerged from the courtyard and saw the Outpost dead ahead. They sprinted toward it, seeing the asari sniper team up on a roof. He waved them on to let them know backup had arrived. In the next courtyard, they had been struggling with brutes, their heavy armor and great endurance proving tough to keep up with. Shepard, Liara, and Garrus hid behind the wall dividing the courtyard from where they were. Shepard and Liara held down a brute with their biotics and allowed Garrus to fire off a round in its neck, if you could call it that. Its head disconnected from its body, as it fell lifeless to the floor. Garrus fired off a proximity mine, enough to stagger the second brute, and allow Liara to hold it down by herself. Shepard charged it, and beheaded it with his omni-blade, bringing the full force of his cybernetic-enhanced arm on it. The sniper team thanked the squad and told the Commander that the Temple of Athame was just ahead of them, down the next short road.

_**Temple of Athame**_

As they made their way down the road, they heard the beating of mechanical wings. A harvester had landed and begun firing upon them. These were particularly grotesque units that had a habit of showing up at the wrong time. Lucky for them, Talon Five, an asari gunship, cleared the road, filling the harvester with holes.

"Talon Five, reporting in," the pilot smirked, clearly pleased with her work.

"Copy that, Talon Five, we owe you one," Shepard replied, waving. Seconds later, a second harvester mounted the gunship and began to drag it down to the earth below. It'd be a long way down for Talon Five. Shepard would have none of it, too many had died today.

"_Fuck it," he thought. "We do owe her one."_

With that, he pulled out his N7 Hurricane, and Liara did the same. Garrus fired off a concussive round and hit the harvester between the eyes. Shepard and Liara filled the harvesters wings with holes, causing it to fall with Talon Five in its grasp. One more concussive round out of Garrus knocked it free. The harvester and Talon Five plummeted. Shepard and Liara pooled their strength, and held the gunship still with their biotics. They worked it up and landed it on the road, pulling the pilot out who now ran back to the sniper squad that the crew helped earlier.

"She'll have stories to tell, that's for sure," Shepard said.

"Ahhh, the Heroes of Thessia, saving the damsel," joked Garrus.

"Not heroes, not yet we aren't," said Liara, "We still need to get to the prothean artifact!"

They arrived at the Temple of Athame with no more trouble, but there was a field blocking the entrance of it with a lock. Liara, being the Shadow Broker and an asari, knew a thing or two about it, and opened the way with ease.

They moved forward cautiously, guns at the ready. They found the science team in a pool of their own blood. It was fresh. Someone had been here. Garrus and Liara stood on guard, while Shepard searched the temple. Shepard went through many artifacts, with Liara explaining the history behind each one, until he finally found one that stirred something in him. He remembered the feeling when he encountered the other two artifacts. It was Athame herself, she the artifact was hidden in her statue. Shepard touched it, and the statue around crumbled to pieces, revealing another prothean beacon, exactly like the one on Eden Prime.

"A prothean beacon," he was awed, "the asari must have been hiding this for centuries, it must be why they're so advanced…"

"Shepard, there must have been good reason! You know that! It must contain dangerous knowledge!" Liara also wondered why herself though.

The beacon, detecting the prothean cipher in Shepard's mind, activated and burned yet another warning about the Reapers into Shepard's mind. Something else also happened, they saw a flicker of light and brought arms to the ready.

"Greetings, I am Vendetta, I am an artificial construct left behind by the Prothean Empire. In the event that I was found by a new cycle, I would share the Empire's collective knowledge of our cycle with them. I would tell them where we went wrong. You do not bear the taint of indoctrination. Speak."

"I'm Commander Shepard, I need a way to defeat the reapers, can this you help with that?"

"Yes, over millions of years, many cycles have contributed to the planning and the evolution of the device your cycle calls the Crucible. This catalyst is the final component, the means for your Crucible to function, if you will. We sought a way to end the cycles, just as all the others did. We had come so close, but the completion of the device was our fall. We failed. We were harvested."

"Why did you fail? What happened?! Our best and brightest have already completed the Crucible! What does it do? Please, tell us! The fate of the galaxy, of our cycle, may rest on your knowledge!"

"No, you have already lost. The invasion has already begun. You are too late, just as we were… Indoctrinated presence detected…"

The VI screamed as if in pain, and was stolen into a small data-orb by none other than Kai Leng.

"Cerberus thanks you for your hard work," he laughed.

"Cerberus! You traitors! You! You're indoctrinated!" Shepard was angry. He would not lose to Kai Leng. He already lost Thane, one of his close friends.

The two dueled. Shepard charged Leng, who reacted and threw up a barrier. An instant later, his shorts-word was behind Shepard's neck. Shepard jumped, and slammed down with a nova, knocking Leng back off his feet. Shepard stood over him, omni-blade at his throat. Leng looked over to his right.

_Liara. No!_

He fired off a round from his cybernetic limbs, missing Liara, but scoring a hit on the ground below and rupturing it. He fired off another, but Shepard grabbed his wrist, his own strength overwhelming, having superior upgrades. The damage was done, the ground began to shake and fall from beneath them. Shepard was knocked off of Kai Leng, who repeatedly came at him with cuts and slices, being deflected by his omni-blade.

Liara called for Shepard, the ground was splitting beneath her feet. His biotics flared, if she wouldn't ever lose him, he sure as hell wouldn't lose her. He gave Leng a strong elbow, cracking his visor, following up with a mighty biotic shockwave, pushing Leng forward with all his strength, sending him down the fissure. Shepard threw up a barrier around Liara and charged her. He caught her in his arms and landed with her at the entrance. Shepard, Liara and Garrus stood at the ready. Just then, a Cerberus shuttle flew out from the temple. This was obviously how Cerberus had been here, how they had hidden, and how those scientists had died. Shepard cursed… not because Cerberus had been here, but because aboard the shuttle was a laughing Kai Leng with the stolen prothean VI.

Shepard ran out towards the view of Thessia in anger. He lost. He felt it like a sharp pang in his chest. He lost! He may have cost the galaxy the war, and Liara had to see it. She had to see him lose on her home planet while her people died… while reapers trampled her birthplace, trampled over the screams of the asari. Thessia was lost. Liara ran to Shepard, who now let a single tear fall from his eyes. He was angry he lost, but he was crying because he had to watch the beauty of thousands of years of civilization wiped out in front of him. Shepard called for the shuttle, and Liara wrapped her arms around him. Garrus stood in the background and watched as Shepard stared off in the distance, holding Liara, who now wept on Shepard's shoulder. She wept for the asari. She wept for Thessia. But in this moment, she wept for Shepard. Neither of them thought about the aftermath, the magnitude… they just stared, completely stricken.


End file.
